In Alexander City, police, students and school officials recently confronted a scenario involving a despondent Alabama college student who suddenly sets off an explosion and sprays a campus with bullets.

It was a fictional case but it helped underscore some real questions: How will police respond? Who will take command at the scene? What is the 911 dispatch center’s plan to deal with the barrage of calls? Who’s dealing with the media? How many officers are needed to secure the campus? Can the hospital deal with the number of injured?

The Alabama Community College System held the Introduction to Vulnerability exercise last Wednesday to identify and plug holes in disaster plans for the schools and their communities. The longtime goal tragically was made timely after last month’s deadly shooting at the University of Alabama in Huntsville.

Dr. Jim Krudop, LBWCC vice president and Greenville campus director, joined Tim Jones, college-wide safety committee chairman and director of college facilities and maintenance, at the event.

“It was an excellent conference with outstanding speakers who knew what they were talking about,” said Krudop. “We were able to review plans of other facilities and have interaction on how we would respond to certain types of emergency situations.”

While LBWCC already had an emergency plan in place for each facility location in Andalusia, Greenville, Opp and Luverne, the training exercise was a good opportunity to review, update, and discuss plans with college leadership.

“The Department of Postsecondary Education was the primary sponsor and encouraged technical and community colleges to participate.This increased our networking opportunities as we review plans designed for specific campuses.”

Dr. Herb Riedel, LBWCC president, said the safety of students, faculty, staff, and visitors is the highest priority in the college’s emergency plans. Knowing ahead of time how to respond to different types of disasters is key to keeping people safe.